It’s a glorious sunny morning in Newsham Park, and a group of people are gathered outside the disused hospital waiting to have the life scared out of them.

My husband and I were part of this hardy bunch, showing more than a little trepidation as the gates were opened and we were welcomed to the ‘Liverpool Asylum’.

Survival experiences are nothing new, but with the rise in popularity of shows such as The Walking Dead, zombie events are now popping up all over the country.

This is the second time Zombie Infection, the team behind this incredible experience, has hosted an event at Newsham Park Hospital. Last year’s was so popular, a few of the guys entering the grounds with us had booked for this event as soon as they left it.

From the second we entered the gates, we were immersed in the action. Being escorted through the hospital grounds to a disinfection tent, then on to a pat down before meeting the team leaders and being debriefed about our mission.

Put into Bravo team, we were each issued with a weapon and given our objective - to search a section of the hospital for clues that will help doctors create a cure for the infection.

To complete our mission we were given a single torch for the group, and a UV light which would help uncover the clues. And we were warned if you were bitten, and your team couldn’t get to you to help, they would leave you behind.

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With that in mind, we headed out of the safe zone and into the vast building where zombies were lurking behind closed doors and in dark shadows. Blood-curdling screams and chattering echoed down the long, dark corridors putting us all on edge.

For the next three hours, we worked together to sweep through the hospital tackling free roaming zombies, and searching for the hidden clues to meet our objectives.

I was ‘bitten’ a few times, but luckily for me my teammates were on hand with ‘medicine’ to get me back on my feet and running for safety.

Mission’s completed, the day culminated with the teams bearing witness to a terrifying experiment in the hospital basement - and a dash across the hospital courtyard with two dozen undead hot on our heels.

And then it was all over, and in a surreal twist we got to go outside and meet the actors who just 10 minutes before, we’d been shooting and screaming at.

One of my teammates, Matthew Foster, had travelled all the way from Bolton to take part.

The 46-year-old was one of the players who fell in love with the first event. He said: “I’ve always loved horror and zombie movies, so coming to something like this was a no brainer.

“I really enjoyed it, in fact I made friends with a couple of the other guys here and now a little community has sprung up around the events.”

Matthew, and a few of his friends, will be taking part in a 12-hour survival night the team will be hosting in Sherwood Forest next month.

After getting our breath back, posing for a few photos with the actors and making my apologies for being a little overzealous with my screaming, we headed off – leaving the team to prepare for the next group of willing victims to scare the life out of.

Zombie Infection will be hosting another event at the hospital in November. For more details on this, and other events they are staging around the country visit www.zombieinfection.co.uk